Around The Shadows Creep (Like Friends They Cover Me)
by FrozenFlames12
Summary: Aphmau saves Cadenza from the Nether, in season 2 episode 11, but is trapped in the process. After one and a half months in the Nether, Aphmau escapes. However, she is not the same, she died in there, and she came back as someone else, something else. Aphmau was able to control herself, but the shadows will always be in her heart. Shadow Knight Aphmau Au!
1. Chapter 1

**Set in season 2 episode 11 In The Shadows.**

A young girl stood in the clearing of a dense forest, she had long black hair and brown eyes. Aphmau was wearing her armor, a long, jeweled, gold and silver sword was strapped to her back. The craftsmanship of her armor was incredible, it was expertly made to be thin and light, while also being extra durable. It had intricate carvings that allowed for both maneuverability and beauty. The armor also had a long purple cape attached at the right shoulder, but not the left. The sword had the same majestic deadly beauty, and it was made with the same export craftsmanship as her armor.

Aphmau couldn't remember much of when she got the armor, or who she got it from. Aphmau couldn't remember much of anything before she arrived at Phoenix Drop, really. She remembered that she got it from a friend. She couldn't remember much about him, but she remembered the sound of his voice, a great vast library, a voice telling her, "You will kill people with this sword, but you will also save lives and help many people." And snow white hair. The warrior shook her head, she needed to focus!

Aphmau moved silently through the forest, her armor not making a single noise. Cloud, however, was less stealthy, he moved with very little grace and instead charged in the direction that they were moving. Aphmau almost sighed at him. Suddenly, they heard a loud scream. It was Cadenza! They had made a plan earlier about what would happen if they found Cadenza and she was in trouble. When Aphmau laid eyes on the scene in front of her, she knew that her friend was indeed in trouble.

Aphmau's brown eyes widened, as she saw her friend, Cadenza, taken through the Nether Portal by the Shadow Souls. She could hear Cloud's gasp of surprise at seeing his lord getting dragged into the Nether. The dark forest obscured her vision somewhat, but that didn't stop her from seeing everything that had just happened clear as day. Aphmau forgot about the plan and charged towards the rip in dimensions, her chocolate eyes filled with a fiery determination to save Cadenza. She could clearly hear Cloud's shout, telling her to stop, but she ignored him and raced through the forest.

Aphmau ran to the alter, the heat of the sacrificial flames burned her back, but she ignored that. No blood had been spilled on the stone, they were keeping her alive, but why? For what purpose would they need Cadenza? Without a second though, without paying attention to the yells of Cadenza's guard and without any thought of her own personal safety, Aphmau jumped through the Nether Portal, her long, silver sword in hand.

Aphmau remembered the Nether all to well, she had been here once before and she never wanted to come back. It looked the same, the pools of lava and the ever blazing fires, the sickly red-purple ground and the pale, glowing, yellow stones, it was all to familiar. The Nether had no sun, no moon, stars, clouds or sky, it was only lighted by fire and molten steel, all lava in this place is used to form a Shadow Knights armor. The Nether was an endless system of caves and caverns, both big and small.

Aphmau heard a scream in the distance, the sound echoing in the cave-like walls of the Nether. Aphmau couldn't tell where the noise had come from. She heard another scream and her head snapped towards it. With great speed, Aphmau ran towards the origin of the cry. Aster a minute or two of running, Aphmau trekked over a large hill. What she saw made her both proud and terrified.

She saw Cadenza, in minimum armor, fighting with her fists against Sasha, Gene and two more Shadow Knights that, thank Irene, Aphmau didn't recognize, both of their faces were obscured by the traditional helm of the Shadow Knights. Surprisingly, Cadenza was holding her own fine, she had even landed a solid punch to Gene's jaw and a kick to the ribs on one of the other Shadow Knights. However, the former lord could see that her friend was hurt and growing exhausted, small and large streams of blood dripped down her arms, legs and chest, and she was breathing heavily. Aphmau jumped up and slid down the hill before quickly leaping to her feet.

Aphmau ran to help her friend, slashing her sword across the throat of one of the unnamed Shadow Knights. His blood stained the ground and her sword. The Shadow Knight fell to the floor, never to get up again. Gene and Sasha looked shocked to see her in the Nether, granted, Aphmau was surprised to see them, especially Sasha. They hadn't changed at all. The unknown Shadow Knight charged at Aphmau. However, she was quicker, her blade struck him in the stomach, tearing through his armor and lifting him off his feet. His blood gushed out, splashing onto Aphmau's face, running like a river, splitting at her nose and just above her eyes, then splitting more after that. Aphmau knew that the Nether was messing with her head, this place brought out the worst in people, it forced malice, hate and rage to come to the surface. It forced them to kill.

Aphmau trust her sword in a downward motion, the dead body sliding off the blade. His blood covered her weapon of choice, scarlet standing out among the silver and gold of her sword. Aphmau felt bad for the loss of life, she always did, but she reminded herself that they were Shadow Knights, who would have killed her without a second thought, and who were going to harm her friend. Cadenza looked terrified, Sasha looked shocked and Gene, Gene looked mildly impressed.

"Come on Cadenza! We need to move NOW!" Aphmau yelled grabbing the arm of her friend and running in the direction of the portal. Anger fueled her movements, the rage the Nether forced upon her gave her strength. If Gene and Sasha ran after them, they would chase them through the portal. Aphmau couldn't let that happen. Just as the portal came into view she let go of Cadenza and turned to face the Lord of Meteli. "Go through the portal, I will hold them off. If I don't make it, tell Laurance that he will always hold a place in my heart, that he was always the brother that I never had and that I owe him more than just my life," Aphmau told her.

Cadenza looked at her friend her mouth agape and her sky blue eyes watering, "Aphmau, I only just got you back, I can't just leave you! And what about everyone else?" Aphmau looked at her with a steady gaze, her brown eyes holding only the blazing light of fire. "You are injured, tired and in no shape to be fighting, you need to leave." Aphmau's head snapped sideways as she heard voices not to far off. "They are coming. GO! NOW!" The once Lord of Phoenix Drop shouted as she pushed Cadenza through, just in time for her to spot Gene and Sasha, but they weren't alone, behind them stood three other Shadow Knights. Aphmau, with little other choices, turned around and, with powerful force, slashed her sword through the obsidian of the portal, slashed through her only way of escaping the Nether.

"NO!" Gene roared, as the portal crumbled to rubble, "You utter fool!". Aphmau gazed at the leader of the group of Shadow Knights and smirked. "You are trapped here, Gene, where you belong," Aphmau snarled, as she tightened her grip on her sword and narrowed her eyes. The look on Gene's face went far beyond murderous. "I may be stuck in this cursed hell, but so are you, cornered with nowhere to run... and no place to hide," Gene said maliciously, his blood red eyes matching the scarlet armor that covered his body.

"I will give you one chance Aphmau, you are strong, a powerful warrior, you needn't die here, join us, become a Shadow Knight and all will be forgiven," Gene said with a voice as smooth as silk. His hand was reached out, an offering. Aphmau's eyes were wide with shock, so were Sasha's. The surprise in her brown eyes quickly faded, as Aphmau drew herself up, back straight and head high, the blood on her face glinted in the light of the fires around them and her eyes looking amber in the blazing light. She looked truly like a force to be reckoned with.

"I'll. Never. Follow. _Y__ou_," Aphmau snarled, readying her scarlet stained sword. Gene sighed, "Fine, so be it, you had the chance to join willingly, now you will join by force." His voice was as cold as the icy winds of winter. He gave a nod to one of the Shadow Knights who moved forward with a spiked chain in hand. In a swift moment, two great, white, feathered wings extended from Aphmau's back, and her skin glowed a faint white. Everyone, even Aphmau, was shocked to see the beautiful wings, but none of them took the time to question it.

The Shadow Knight with the chains threw one end at her like a whip, she dodged and grabbed the spiked chain, its barbs cutting into the palm of her hand. Yanking on the chain, the Shadow Knight lost his balance and fell from the ledge, into the lava below, his screams were short. Aphmau was clumsy due to the giant wings that had appeared on her back and lost her balance. The other two rushed forward, swords in hand. One slashed at her stomach, the other at her head. Aphmau blocked the strike to her head, but in doing so the other Shadow Knight slashed deep into her side, grazing her ribs. She grunted in pain at the deep wound and drew herself up. Her eyes narrowed.

The Shadow Knights were circling her. Aphmau, making a split second decision, threw her sword, it pierced the heart of the Shadow Knight that she had blocked from striking her head. He had no time to scream, he was dead before his body hit the ground. Aphmau felt a pang of guilt, but the rage forced the feeling of sadness away. The other Shadow Knight's posture stiffened, as if he knew that he could be killed by this woman. Unfortunately for him, he charged at the one who killed his fellow Shadow Knights.

Aphmau quickly ran and pulled her sword from the dead body, just in time to deflect a strike to her head. The sword didn't strike the back of her head like intended to, but it hit her forehead, slashing in a diagonal arc just beside her right eye. Even more blood appeared on her face, it was past the point were she was covered in it. Aphmau ran at the Shadow Knight. She When she was close enough, she slashed downwards. The slash ripped open his crimson armor and his body, from his throat to his stomach. He fell to the ground, twitching with blood pooling from his horrific wound. The red liquid lapped against the red-purple stone floor, gushing out of his body in waves. She couldn't see Gene or Sasha, they must have fled, like the pathetic, sniveling, cowards that they are. Aphmau let her muscles relax, and, just for a moment, she let her guard down.

That was a grave mistake, it gave her biggest threat a chance to strike. Gene jumped from his hiding place and slashed his sword at her back in a deadly arc. I screamed, he didn't hit anything of importance, but it hurt, especially with the wound being to close to the the extra blood veins pumping blood into my wings. Already my vision was going dark, and my senses dulled. My knees buckled under me and I collapsed on the hard stone floor. Fire exploded in my side, as Gene kicked me in my wounded ribs. I landed on the side of my body that wasn't damaged, my wings fading into mist and disappearing.

"Don't worry Aphmau." I faintly heard Gene say through the fog. "When you wake up, you won't remember any of this, and you will serve the Shadow Knights." My mind couldn't stay awake any longer, and I gave way to the darkness, falling deep into the abyss bellow.


	2. Chapter 2

**In The Overworld**

Cadenza stared wide eyed at the crumbled remains of the Nether portal. Her sky blue eyes wet with tears and wide with shock. Aphmau had sacrificed herself, to save her. Cadenza felt soft arms pulling her up, she recognized them to be Cloud's. "M'lady, what happened," her trusted guard asked. Cadenza didn't answer, she couldn't answer. She had just gotten her old friend back, after fifteen long years, Aphmau had come back, only to be gone again within the first week. Laurance would be devastated. Cadenza remembered Aphmau's final request to her. She asked her to tell Laurance that she had always loved him as the brother she never had. Cadenza would honor her request.

Vincent came running out of the forest, into the clearing which the Nether portal once stood. His armor had streaks of black blood dripping from it, most likely from the Shadow Souls. Vincent looked at the portal's remains, for a moment, his eyes were blank, then shock filled his crimson irises. "A Nether portal can only be closed from inside, and Aphmau isn't here, did she...?" Vincent questioned, as he helped his lord off of the ground.

Cadenza could only mutely nod, her eyes now squeezed shut, tears pouring down her face as her body was shaken by her sobs. Her wounds hurt, but they didn't sting as much as the pain in her heart. "Aphmau, please be okay," Cloud whispered his eyes staring blankly at the once active Nether portal. Cloud swung Cadenza's arm over his shoulders to help her walk. After a few seconds he realized that his companion wasn't following him. "Vincent, are you coming?" The Shadow Knight shook his head and replied, "One moment Cloud, I need to make sure that this Nether portal will never open again. I will be back by sundown."

"Oh great Lady Irene, please watch over her, guide her soul through the Nether and keep her safe from the shadows," Vincent whispered, "I am in your debt for saving my lord, please Aphmau, come out alive and untainted by the evils that lurk within the darkness of the fire realm." And he began his work to spread the pieces as far away as he could.

**In The Nether**

Aphmau lay on a stone alter, her arms and legs bound by chains. She was still in her armor, you had to be to become a Shadow Knight, and she appeared to be unconscious. Her sword lay by her side. Gene and Sasha walked over to her, the former of the two holding a long, curved, silver dagger that almost looked like a claw. "Wake her up," Gene told Sasha, who grumbled, but did as she was told. A swift punch to the gut had Aphmau awake and gasping for breath. Sasha didn't even feel the pain of her fist striking the hard metal of Aphmau's armor.

Her eyes went wide, as she realized where exactly she was. She faintly noticed that her wings were gone, but Aphmau really didn't care at the moment. She tried to struggle, only to find out that she was bound to a stone alter by heavy chains and that her wounds not only still hurt, but were continuing to bleed, long after they should have stopped, just as bad as when she got them. Then she remembered Laurance one telling her, "Wounds don't heal in the Nether, they bleed and bleed, never letting those who had been cut have a moment without that pain, but also never letting them die. Only older Shadow Knights know how to heal them."

"What do you want?" Aphmau yelled, her voice more angry that scared. "Tsk tsk, I would have thought that you would have guessed by now," Gene said as he walked over to his prisoner. His eyes were stone cold, yet they blazed with all the fire in the Nether. His gaze seemed to pierce Aphmau's very soul, and she would be lying if she said that his stare didn't scare her. And that was saying something considering the things that she had been through.

Gene placed the dagger against her throat. Aphmau sucked in a breath, but refused to plead with him. If she died today, he would not have the pleasure of knowing that she begged before him. Gene smirked at her. "Say goodbye to your humanity," He said. The Shadow Knight pulled his arm back to himself. Aphmau saw the bloody dagger before she registered the pain. The curved blade gleaming amber from the orange glow of the lava and the crimson tint of her blood on the blade.

That's when she felt her wound. Aphmau was on fire. She tried to scream, only for blood to pool from her mouth. Heavy tears ran down her face, but when she tried to blink them away, all she saw was red. Was she crying blood? Aphmau felt her strength leaver her and her head lolled to the side. The last things she saw before she fell into the void was the smirking face of Sasha and the blazing, yet cold and calculating eyes of Gene.


	3. Important Poll

I know, I promised I would update all my stories, but I'm a horrible lier. I'm just swamped with trying to write my in progress stories when I have so many other unpublished things I'm working on, so I'm opening a pull to see which of my stories should be updated and completed first or if I should publish a new story and finish that. The stories with the most votes will be worked on and finished in the order of how many votes they get. Voters have until June 1 so submit their opinion.


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